Funding Effort Is One for the Books

Ask Redondo Union High School sophomore Darin Joseph what her campus library needs most, and she answers in a heartbeat: “New books!”

She and other public school students in California are about to get those new books--and equipment--as the state prepares to distribute an unprecedented $158.5 million for school libraries. The money, the biggest single infusion of state library funds ever, comes after nearly three decades of dwindling support for the campus facilities.

“It’s the most exciting thing to happen to school libraries in 30 years,” said Redondo High’s librarian, Megan Cassette. “I can hardly believe it!”

The initiative is long overdue, according to experts who link dismal reading scores among the state’s students to the neglect of its school libraries. California students scored near the bottom on the most recent national reading assessment, and state testing last year revealed that two-thirds of its third-graders were reading below grade level.

The funds, about $28 per student, will go to any district that submits a library improvement plan. Local school officials throughout the state are scrambling to meet this week’s deadline to claim their share of the windfall.

The library funds are part of the effort in recent years to turn around poor school performance by spending more money on such improvements as smaller classes and new textbooks. In his budget proposal last week, Gov. Gray Davis--naming education his top priority--called for additional money for schools, including more for libraries.

Even with the current infusion of cash, California’s public school libraries will continue to compare poorly with their counterparts across the nation--evidence, said state Department of Education library consultant Barbara Jeffus, of how bad the situation has become.

Take, for instance, a typical school library’s number of books per student. The national average is 20. In California, it is 11. With books averaging $16 apiece, the $28-per-student allotment is not going to be enough for the state to catch up.

“That’s why it is so important for this to be ongoing funding, as it was intended to be,” Jeffus said.

Anticipating that the governor and Legislature will continue the library funds for at least the next few fiscal years, state education officials are requiring that each district create a comprehensive plan for its school libraries. Once the plan has been approved by their school boards, districts can apply for this year’s funds, which state education officials expect to distribute in late March.

The money is for library materials and equipment, not staffing or administrative costs. Department of Education officials are encouraging school officials to make new books their top priority, but they also can buy such items as newspaper and magazine subscriptions, videotapes and laser disks, library-based computer workstations and software.

Historically, California has designated little or no money for school libraries, relying instead on local districts or the federal government. Federal funds dried up in the early 1970s, said Jeffus, probably explaining why the average copyright date for a nonfiction public school library book is 1973.

Districts began cutting back on library staffing, services and supplies after Proposition 13, which curtailed local tax revenues. Cuts continued through a statewide recession in the early 1990s.

Today, about two-thirds of school libraries lack a credentialed library media teacher. While some schools staff their libraries with clerical workers, others rely on parents and other volunteers to serve young patrons. Jeffus told of paying a visit to one Los Angeles district library during school hours recently--only to find it locked.

As evidence of the demand for school library funds, the state Department of Education drew 2,500 applicants for 52 grants of $5,000 or $10,000 in the past couple of years.

The state has paid a price for its neglect, according to several studies that link reading skills with access to books and library services.

“The quality of school libraries has a direct and powerful impact on reading achievement scores,” said Jeff McQuillan, an assistant professor of education at Cal State Fullerton and author of the 1998 book “The Literary Crisis, False Claims, Real Solutions.”

“There is plenty of research to show that kids read more and better when they have access to books. . . . It’s a no-brainer,” McQuillan said.

The state funding drought contributed to yawning discrepancies in the quality of school libraries throughout the state, according to state officials.

In the 7,450-student Redondo Beach Unified School District, libraries have fared relatively well. All elementary and middle schools have employees to keep their libraries open each day, and the district is computerizing card catalogs into a districtwide system, said Cassette, a fully credentialed librarian.

In addition, the school board has always set aside funding for libraries in its annual budget, and the district has landed donations to buy new books and used private-industry grants to buy computers and hook up to the Internet.

Still, the need for more--and newer--materials is great. When Cassette began sorting through the high school’s 18,000-volume collection shortly after becoming librarian last year, she found she had to toss two-thirds of the science and health section.

“The books were so outdated and worn,” she said. The culling left entire shelves empty.

The district’s plan lists four goals--updating and varying resources, continuing with its catalog automation and networking program, involving parents and community members in library program development and providing teachers with materials and services to supplement their lessons.

Cassette estimated that the district will get $210,000 of the new state library funds and is looking forward to “sending in a very large order” for materials once committees at each school decide what they need most.

Last year, Cassette had convened a task force of students, staff and parents to consider how to improve the high school library. When word came about the new state funding, the group already had some ideas.

Senior Kristy Casey, one of the student members of the task force, said students need to be made aware of the resources available and how to use them.

“In my whole four years here, I never used the library for a school research project. Then I got on the task force and we did a tour and I saw all this equipment and resources that I hadn’t known about,” Casey said.

Darin Joseph, the sophomore who wants the library to get new books, and also a task force member, said she frequently uses the library and believes that the new funds can help make it “more organized, more usable and more efficient.”

“We have a lot of resources, but we need more updated ones,” Joseph said, “especially maps.”

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School Libraries

California has a ways to go in repairing the damage from neglect of its public schools’ libraries. A $158.5-million infusion of state funds for new books and other equipment will help.

Library Books per Student

California: 11

National average: 20

Age of Collections

The average copyright date for nonfiction books is 1973

Staffing

About two-thirds of California public schools do not have a credentialed library media teacher.

In elementary schools, there is one library media teacher for every 6,173 students.

In middle schools, there is one for every 1,801 students.

In high schools, there is one for every 1,217 students.

Source: California Department of Education